BEHIND THE 8-BALL

As the league pauses, two of the biggest stories of this NBA season have converged.

The return from oblivion by the Lakers and the Yao Ming mania in Houston are separated by 11/2 games for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. As it stands now, the loser goes home, the final chapter to be written in April.

Yes, the Rockets, now in place for the No. 8 seed in the West, are looking over their shoulders at the Lakers. And yes, they should be scared, very scared.

Houston plays 20 of its final 34 on the road, where it is 7-15. Already this season, the Rockets have lost to Cleveland, Memphis, Atlanta, New York and twice to the Clippers, in addition to needing a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Steve Francis and overtime to survive against the Heat, which visits Friday night.

The rumbling the Rockets are sensing is more than Shaq-Yao II on Feb. 18 or Shaq-Yao III on March 26. It is Kobe Bryant seemingly hell-bent on a run for MVP -- and their own knees knocking.

"All you can do is hope you can get better, get more consistency, because the way we're playing, we'll never get a streak going," Rockets forward Maurice Taylor said last week, in the wake of Wednesday's loss to Cleveland. "We have to get to where we execute a whole lot better. The Lakers are on us."

The Lakers also are on a five-game winning streak. The Rockets' longest winning streak this season was four, which immediately was followed by a four-game losing streak.

Houston's second-best run, a three-game winning streak, immediately was followed by a three-game losing streak.

"It's been an ongoing process in finding out who the heck we are," coach Rudy Tomjanovich said.

Getting the ball to Yao would be a start, but that would mean Cuttino Mobley giving up a few shots -- as if that ever is going to happen. The Mobley situation would be akin to Lakers guard Derek Fisher insisting he gets his first before passing to Shaq.

If that sounds like an indictment of the coach, it is not, at least from inside the locker room. But the notion is in the air in Houston.

"There's a lot of fuel about that," Rockets owner Les Alexander told the Houston Chronicle. "I'm not contemplating anything like that. I would not even consider that. You don't have one plan; you're always adjusting. The players and the team are very inexperienced. I think that hurts."

What hurts is somehow having the Lakers as the No. 9 seed at the All-Star break, a three-time defending champion doing the chasing instead of being chased. This is no sub-.500 Washington trying to hold off sub-.500 Orlando in the East.

Houston already has endured such torment before. Two seasons ago, it closed 45-37 only to miss the playoffs, the best record to fail to make a 16-team postseason.

COMMON SENSE

Having made the prep-to-pros jump to the NBA, Bulls forward Tyson Chandler displayed a keen grasp of the subject when discussing LeBron James' troublesome complementary jerseys. "If a student wins a spelling contest and they give him a computer for becoming the best speller, why can't a basketball player get compensated with a jersey or two for becoming the best player?" he said. ...

Speaking of coherent logic, Ray Allen offered a worthwhile suggestion regarding a minimum amount of games played in relation to winning an All-Star berth via fan balloting. "If Michael Jordan is on there next year, even if he's not in the league, people are still going to vote for him," the Bucks' guard said. "They'll say, 'Michael Jordan's on the ballot, let's vote for Michael Jordan.' There has to be some kind of stipulation as far as games played." Call it the Vince Carter Rule. ...

Like others at the bottom of the standings, Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown has accepted the limited realities of this summer's free-agency period. "Jason Kidd and other guys, they want to win," Brown said. "They're getting up in their careers. I don't think any of them would leave for a situation that is rebuilding."

NO SPUR OF MOMENT

Put aside all those trade rumors regarding the Spurs. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said the goal remains enough cap space this summer for two max-level free agents: a re-signed Tim Duncan plus another player. "We're not giving it up," Popovich said of the well-thought-out austerity program, "we're not." ...

Clippers forward Elton Brand, on playing with so many teammates in contract years, "It is ridiculous. I don't think anyone has ever been through something like this before -- unless it was another Clippers team." ...

Hawks center Theo Ratliff has been so unmoved by trade rumors, it's starting to sound as if he wants to be moved. "It's always great to be wanted," he said. "If nobody wants you, that's a bad thing. But when people are looking to pick you up, that means you have some value in this league."

STARTING OVER

His new era as Cavaliers coach also began a new collection of memorabilia for Keith Smart, which is why the interim coach so coveted the game ball from his first NBA victory. Smart's previous commemoratives were lost in 1996 in a house fire in Bloomington, Ind. "We got out with just the clothes on our backs," Smart said. Lost in the blaze was Smart's NCAA championship ball -- he hit the winning shot in the 1987 title game for Indiana against Syracuse -- along with his IU championship ring. His wife replaced the ring, and Indiana fans forwarded other replacement items. ...

So why did Juwan Howard lift a finger (no, not that one) in a No. 1 salute last week after picking up a charge on Memphis forward Drew Gooden? It was the first one drawn by the Nuggets forward this season, a shutout previously lamented by Denver coach Jeff Bzdelik. "I've been trying to find ways to take one," Howard said. ...

DerMarr Johnson continues to make a remarkable recovery from the Sept. 13 car crash that left him with four cracked vertebrae in his neck. The Hawks' forward is back in non-contact drills, has been dunking and is hopeful of a possible return this season. "The type of fractures he had, it's a miracle he's not in a wheelchair," Hawks trainer Wally Blase said. ...

The Hornets are targeting early March for Baron Davis' return from knee troubles. Davis is in Vancouver receiving treatment and then plans to spend a week in Los Angeles undergoing rehab.

Then there's Pacers center Brad Miller on Shaq, "He can do all the things I'd wish I could do if I could jump." ...

If Kings-Mavericks replaces Kings-Lakers as high drama in the West, keep an eye on Sacramento forward Keon Clark and Dallas center Shawn Bradley. "He's the softest-hearted big man in the league," Clark said. "He throws elbows, grabs you, and he's even tried to trip people."

DISTAFF DISGRACE?

The women's game apparently lives on in South Florida. Spurs guard Steve Kerr, on last week's 67-65 victory over the Heat, when Duncan bailed out San Antonio with 25 rebounds, "It reminds me of my girl's YWCA games. Everybody misses all their shots and the tallest girl gets all the rebounds." ...

Known as the "Big Sleep" by teammates because of his ability to snooze as the team travels, Magic forward Tracy McGrady said he continues to get his rest even with the arrival a week ago of 6-pound, 9-ounce Layla Clarise. "I've started just going to a different wing of the house to sleep," he said of his $6.6 million mansion. "They understand that daddy has to get his sleep before games." ...

With Andrei Kirilenko routinely finishing off alley-oop passes from Mark Jackson for dunks, the Jazz veteran point guard is hopeful of retaining the second-year forward on the second unit. "I am like a jealous girlfriend," Jackson said. "I want him all to myself."

PLAYING IT OUT

Hidden in Dallas' league-best 38-10 record is a 1-4 ledger against the Spurs, Kings and Lakers. Hidden on the Mavericks' stat sheet is that Dallas' league-low turnover average has led to a somewhat predictable pick-and-roll offense. "I actually wouldn't mind seeing a few more turnovers if our ball movement is better," coach Don Nelson said. ...

Then there are the Pacers, who are a combined 2-5 against the Nets, Pistons, Spurs and Mavericks, having yet to play the Kings or Blazers. The Pacers went 1-3 during Ron Artest's four-game suspension. ...

The state of the East: "We can get to the playoffs, I think, without being .500," Carter said of his Raptors last week. Carter is right about as few as 38 victories qualifying, just wrong about Toronto, which would need to go 24-10 to reach those 38. ...

The frailty of the East has the Hawks still talking playoffs. Only 13 of their 33 remaining games are against teams currently with records of .500 or better.

MASS APPEAL

The Tony Massenburg factor: Last season, the Grizzlies won three of four from the Jazz; this season, Utah has pummeled Memphis by 33, 29 and 21 points, with a Feb. 24 meeting remaining in Memphis. Last season, while with the Grizzlies, Massenburg helped limit Jazz power forward Karl Malone to 14.3 points in four games on 33 percent shooting. This season, with Massenburg a Utah teammate, Malone is averaging 20.3 points against the Grizzlies on combined 26-of-37 shooting. ...

For what it's worth: Shaq led the Lakers in scoring for four consecutive games ending with the New Jersey game on Jan. 24. The Lakers lost three of those four. Kobe has led the team in scoring the past five games -- all victories. ...

Less than pleased about often sitting during fourth quarters earlier in the season, Warriors guard Gilbert Arenas made his points over a run heading into the All-Star break, with 16 in the fourth quarter at Seattle, 20 in the fourth quarter at Phoenix and 15 in the fourth quarter against San Antonio. ...

Kevin Garnett's three triple-doubles tell only a small part of the story. The Timberwolves' forward has led his team in points, rebounds and assists 11 times in the same game. ...

What made Latrell Sprewell's 9 of 9 on 3-pointers against the Clippers last week all the more unlikely was that beginning with the 8:00 mark the week before at AmericanAirlines Arena, the Knicks' forward had shot 9 of 36 on 3-pointers over his previous nine quarters.

WHISTLE BLOWERS

Derrick Stafford's words with Pat Riley last week in the Portland game stood as just the veteran official's latest running dialogue. A week earlier, miffed that Stafford called a foul on the Lakers well after his Kings had been finished off, Sacramento center Vlade Divac chastised the referee for merely doing it as a way of evening the ledger.

Leave it alone? No way. Divac said that was when Stafford turned to Kings guard Doug Christie and said, "Tell Vlade this is not the last game of yours I'll be working this season." ...

Yes, that was a 92-point turnaround the Celtics experienced in home games. On the road for two games after their 118-66 home loss to Detroit, the Celtics' next appearance at FleetCenter was Wednesday's 114-74 victory over the Sonics. In the latter game, Celtics forward Antoine Walker received his league-leading 16th technical foul when he complained about a call with Boston up 100-64.

Ira Winderman's NBA column appears Sundays. He can be reached at iwinderman@sun-sentinel.com.